"President Obama is going to get tax rate increases. The president won." - Lindsay Graham, 12/30/12
Let's just take a moment to savour this; we're going to win on taxes.
No, we aren't going to win on everything. There's still the rest of the cliff to be avoided or solved, there's still the debt ceiling. There will be trade-offs we all despise. Lots of us will be even angrier at the President by the end. The threshold will probably be higher than we want, and lots of us don't want ANY of the tax rates to be extended. But all of us want the top rate to go up on at least the majority of the top 2% and we're going to win.
It's easy to minimise the significance of this, but it really is a HUGE landmark. We weren't able to do this when we controlled both chambers back in 2010. We haven't been able to raise revenues at all since 1994, and public services have suffered for it. This is the core, the heart of the modern GOP and we are driving a stake into it. This can unite almost everyone in the party; from centrists who want deficit reduction to progressives refusing to give up the struggle for fairness. It is a GOOD idea, a necessary idea, the Republicans have fought it with every single breath in their bodies and they've lost.
So let's not lose sight of our bigger objectives; let's not stop fighting for a better deal on everything else, and then on the debt ceiling and on immigration and guns and all our other important issues, often more important than this. But too often we don't see a win for what it is; so let's see this for it. Not a TOTAL win, not as big a win as we'd like, and not a complete win yet.
But it's a big win nonetheless, and on an issue absolutely central to the modern sinkhole that calls itself the Republican Party. Well done everyone. Let's recognise that, celebrate it, then get back to the fight.